Update July 28, 2003

Update on the Nassar Farm Land Case (from the Nassar Family)

Dear friends,

Hi there everyone, You should have received an update on the land case from Daoud last week. I just wanted to add a few comments. Yes, there has been another postponement for at least 60 days. However, there are several things which we consider positive about this hearing.

First of all, we actually made it inside the courtroom, which is an improvement from previous times. Also, we had alot of support at this hearing and we are extremely thankful to all those folks for standing in solidarity with the family. Among those present at the courtroom were: The political representative for the US Consulate Mr. Michael Pascual; the Swiss Consular representative; the Swedish Consular representative; representatives from Peace Now and Ta'Ayush; and Pastor Alex Awad.

Another positive development was in regard to the state's summarizing argument, which apparently consisted of one sentence to the effect that "This case has already been decided by the lower court and we see no reason why it needs to be reviewed by the supreme court." This annoyed the judge and she gave them 60 days to articulate specific reasons why this land should be declared state land. Since they have no specific reasons, we have hope for the ultimate outcome. It is extremely important that we continue to show support for the family and demonstrate to the folks deciding this case that its outcome is being awaited by many people who care about justice and peace in the Middle East.

We will be sending more updates out and no doubt will ask you to participate in at least one more fax campaign. Thanks so much for staying involved and showing your support. It has meant more to tha family than we can possibly express. I also wanted to point out that an article on settlement activity which refers to this case can be found in the August 2003 issue of Mother Jones, with a nice photo of the family.

Also we encourage you to go to your local bookstore and special order one or more copies of Imm Mathilda for them to stock on their shelves. Book signings are being arranged for the Richmond area while we are here and a feature will appear in the local paper soon. For those not in this area, please encourage folks to order it on the net. The study guide is also available and is included free for orders of ten or more books. If anyone has a good idea for getting Oprah Winfrey to read it, suggestions are welcome!!! I intend to start a new book on the land combining a discussion of settlement tactics (among other issues) with a family oral history as soon as we get back to Palestine. For this I'll need a laptop (our home computer died before we left) so if any of you know of a cheap laptop for sale or someone who'd like to donate a laptop to this project, let me know! Thanks again for your support!

Alison